In today’s day and age, muscle steroids are seen as drugs that fuel cheating athletes and induce aggression and rage in users. Unfortunately, muscle steroids are one of, if not the most misunderstood class of drugs prescribed today.
While opinions are often passed back and forth about whether or not an implicated athlete is morally right or wrong for using steroids, a number of myths associated with muscle steroids have become widespread.
Let’s take a look at the top myths about muscle steroids and get the facts straight once and for all.
The Top 9 Myths About Muscle Steroids Debunked
Myth #1: Steroids Cause Baldness
One of the favorite myths about muscle steroids is that they cause baldness. However, we can shut this myth down, as baldness is determined by genetics. Increased levels of testosterone from anabolic steroids will not cause baldness. However, this increase has been argued that it could speed up the process.
This side effect of muscle steroids is enough to steer many people away from using them. What most people don’t know, however, is there are ways of preventing this. Propecia is an FDA-approved hair loss medication and hair loss shampoos are a recommendation that can be used as a precaution for any hair loss during cycles.
Myth #2: You’ll Get Roid Rage
Fact: Muscle steroids will amplify personality characteristics that the individual using them already has. This, however, does NOT mean that they cause aggression. In fact, the only studies to have come from steroids are those performed on rats. The big difference between humans and rats is that we have a better capacity to control aggression.
If this myth makes you rethink the use of muscle steroids, consider other stimulants. Those such as caffeine have also been included within the literature as stimulants that lead to high levels of aggression. Does that mean coffee should be blamed for all outbursts by coffee drinkers? Of course not.
Myth #3: Steroids Are A Quick-Fix Magic Pill
There are many expectations that come with the use of anabolic steroids. Increased muscle mass, strength, fat loss, and enhancements in recovery should all be expected to take place once an individual begins using muscle steroids. However, how effective steroids are at making these results happen depends on several different factors.
Although some may feel that steroids can override or compensate for a poor diet, this is completely false. Anabolic steroids simply increase protein synthesis, but when protein intake is lacking, the increase in protein synthesis from muscle steroids is pointless. In fact, athletes will testify that more intense training and regime dieting is required in order to reap the full benefits that steroids have to offer.
Muscle steroids are not magic pills or chemicals that will instantly shape, define, or provide an individual’s body with the athleticism they might be searching for.
Myth #4: Steroids Shrink The Size Of Your Manhood
The idea that a man’s penis can shrink from anabolic steroids is one of the most common rumors about muscle steroids. Believe it or not, there is no trade-off between muscle size and penis size. When muscle steroids are taken, the body will shut down its own natural testosterone production. This shutdown will cause the testes to degenerate.
This means that shortly after a steroid cycle and during it, the testicles will temporarily shrink. However, they will return to their normal size once natural testosterone production has been restored. While, as has just been explained, muscle steroids will surely shrink testicles temporarily, that is the only part of a man’s anatomy that this will happen to. Any reduction in the size of the rest of an individual’s manhood is an absolute myth.
Myth #5: With Steroids Comes An Increased Chance Of Prostate Cancer
Evidence shows that men with higher levels of testosterone, such as those who take muscle steroids, are at no greater risk of developing prostate cancer than men who have low testosterone. Prostate cancer, just like baldness, as discussed in myth #1, is genetically predetermined.
Myth #6: Your Growth Will Be Stunted If You Take Steroids
Some suggestions have been made that anabolic steroid use in teens leads to the premature closure of growth plates. However, once again, there is no scientific proof to this claim, which remains a myth.
If you don’t believe it, take a look at Arnold Schwarzenegger. The actor admitted to taking steroids from a very young age, and he did not incur stunted growth. While this is not to say Arnold should be taken as the end-all-be-all proof, his example coupled with the lack of hard scientific data proves such a claim is simply a myth.
Myth #7: You’ll Become Depressed On Steroids
The media has thoroughly built up the myth that muscle steroids will cause users to become depressed. However, misinformation is being exploited.
In fact, each report that has linked steroids with depression has been purely anecdotal. In most cases, the individual who was using muscle steroids had mental imbalances in the past. Similar to the myth about “roid rage,” increased testosterone levels have been proven to increase positive moods and decrease stress.
Myth #8: Steroids Damage Your Liver
Although some steroid users are quick to believe that injected steroids are better for you than taking the drug orally, this is not the case for all steroids. While it is true that if taken orally, the steroid must pass through the liver, this could only cause high levels of toxicity with certain orally ingested steroids.
Unfortunately, over the years the drugs have taken a bad rap in terms of liver side effects from muscle steroids, even though millions chose to kill their liver with alcohol and various forms of prescription drugs, all of which are legal.
Myth #9: Steroids Will Decrease Endurance
The myth that muscle steroids will decrease your endurance is actually just the opposite of the truth. In fact, by creating a greater count in red blood cells, muscle steroids will boost your endurance. Red blood cells are one of the most important physiological components for athletes. This especially holds true for endurance athletes.
These cells are responsible for carrying oxygen to the body’s tissues, including your muscles. Additionally, it’s been suggested that estrogen is to blame for increased levels of aggression. On the contrary, however, testosterone makes males feel positive and motivated!
Have you ever taken muscle steroids? If so, what motivated you to take them in the first place? If not, which of these myths (or others) are holding you back?
